MUSCAT — Majlis Al Shura yesterday resumed the proceedings of its seventh regular session of its first annual sitting under the chairmanship of Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Isa’ee, chairman of Majlis Al Shura.

The session, which hosted Mohammed bin Nasser Al Khusaibi, secretary-general of the National Economy Ministry and chairman of Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), discussed the development of the telecommunications sector in Oman. Khusaibi gave a briefing on the communication services and the developments witnessed during the period from May 2002 to December 2007.

Khusaibi pointed out that the establishment of the TRA in May 2001 was part of a governmental initiative to liberalise and develop the telecommunications sector in the country. He added that the TRA had managed to introduce competition in mobile services by granting second licence to Nawras in March 2005. The competition has yielded good results by providing more options, new services, job opportunities and low service tariffs.

On the penetration level of fixed line services, Khusaibi pointed out that the current telephone density for Omantel is only 10.4 per cent. “This is mainly attributed to the global trend of replacing fixed services with mobile services, in addition to other challenges like high investment costs due to the geographical nature of Oman besides the low population density,” he said.

A new action plan including a new licence for fixed phone lines has been put in place and will be completed before the end of this year.

Khusaibi pointed out that the number of internet subscribers amounted to 100,000 as of 2007 and stood at 104,000 as of the end of this month. As for international calls, Khusaibi pointed out that Omantel has reduced the rates by 20 per cent in 2005 and for leased lines in 2007 by 60 per cent. The TRA and Omantel are planning to rationalise the current local call rates.

Majlis Al Shura has now completed discussions of the items that were listed on its agenda for the sixth and seventh sessions of the first annual sitting for 2008. — ONA